Multiple Americans killed, injured in attack on Kabul hotel

The Americans are among 22 people - 14 foreigners and eight Afghans - killed in the Taliban attack in the Afghan capital.

Afghan security forces keep watch as smoke rises from the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 21, 2018.(Reuters)

A US state department official said on Tuesday multiple American citizens were killed and injured in the Taliban’s weekend attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.

The official didn’t give exact figures for either the US fatalities or injuries. The official wasn’t authorised to comment by name and demanded anonymity.

The state department said the United States is sending “deepest condolences” to the families and friends of those killed and wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

The Americans are among 22 people killed in the attack in the Afghan capital. An Afghan interior ministry official has said 14 were foreigners and eight were Afghans. More than 150 people, including 41 foreigners, were rescued or escaped.

The 13-hour weekend siege started on Saturday when Taliban militants in suicide vests stormed the hotel. It ended on Sunday.

An Afghan official said on Tuesday the death toll from the Taliban attack had risen to 22, including 14 foreigners and eight Afghans.

Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior ministry, said that after the deadly siege ended on Sunday, security forces also defused a vehicle full of explosives near the site of the attack.

Earlier reports said that along with the 14 foreigners, four Afghans died in the attack, which ended after security forces said they had killed the last of six Taliban militants who stormed the hilltop hotel.

Danish said an investigation is underway to find out how the attackers got into the building so easily.